NBA to act on Sonics move before trial date

By GREG JOHNS, P-I REPORTER

Published
10:00 pm PST, Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Although U.S. District Court Judge Marsha Pechman came up with a June 16 trial date to settle the KeyArena lease spat between Sonics owners and the city of Seattle, the NBA says it will determine before then whether to approve Clay Bennett's relocation request to Oklahoma City.

League bylaws set a four-month window to respond to relocation filings and the NBA already has delayed that decision to its April 17-18 Board of Governors meeting in New York.

League spokesman Tim Frank said Tuesday the seven-person relocation committee will move forward with its process despite the overhanging legal issue.

"The relocation committee will proceed with its deliberations and make a recommendation to the Board of Governors when it meets in April," Frank said. "If the board votes to approve the relocation, that approval will, of course, be subject to a legal determination that the team is free to relocate."

So NBA owners could approve a move to Oklahoma City contingent on Bennett and his ownership group successfully extricating itself from the court process, but that doesn't figure to be an easy task.

The city has said it will consider adding the NBA to the lawsuit should the league approve relocation of the Sonics while the team is still bound by its lease at KeyArena, though city attorney Tom Carr said no decision had been reached on that as of Tuesday.

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"I just hope their process is fair," Carr said of the relocation committee. "Under their rules he has the right to petition for a move and they have to consider that. They're doing nothing wrong. But it really should be a fair comparison between Seattle and Oklahoma City. That's all I want."

Pechman's trial schedule, announced Tuesday, sets a compromise course between the timing requested by both sides.

Professional Basketball Club LLC, the official name of the Oklahoma-based group, had asked for a March 24 start to the trial in order to expedite its chances of relocating in time to play the 2008-09 season in Oklahoma City.

The city requested an Oct. 27 date that would have allowed more time for discovery and depositions, while also delaying the team's ability to move by at least one year.

Pechman, who said she has no personal interest in sports, split the difference with her June 16 start to what she expects will be a six-day trial. If the Sonics win that nonjury decision, they would conceivably have time to pursue a move to Oklahoma City, given the NBA has until August to set its schedule for the start of league play in late October.

However, either side would have 30 days to appeal a decision in the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, a process that could delay the outcome for anywhere from six months to two years.

"The question is whether the judge would stay the decision," Carr said. "If she let the team leave, we have no remedy left. So it would be an interesting question. But we hope it won't come to that."

The Sonics pushed for an earlier trial to expedite the process, but said they could work with Pechman's decisions, which include a limit of 11 depositions per side instead of the 25 originally requested by the city.

Also playing out in the interim is Oklahoma City's March 4 vote on a 1 percent sales tax for a 15-month period that would raise $120 million to upgrade the Ford Center to make it a better venue for an NBA franchise.

The irony there is Oklahoma City leaders have been selling residents on the benefits of bringing an NBA team to their region, while the Sonics' owners have introduced a legal argument saying they should be allowed to buy their way out of their KeyArena lease because the team offers no value to the city and wouldn't be missed.

Brian Robinson, chairman of the Save Our Sonics fan group, feels the trial's timing will make it difficult both for the franchise to move by next season and for the NBA's public perception.

"I believe this is effectively going to put the Sonics here next season," Robinson said. "But the biggest issue is this trial will be right in the middle of the NBA Finals. As a fan, that's my favorite time of year. What a thing to have in the middle of the Finals, where they'll go to breaks and have coverage of a team owner saying the NBA brings no value to its city. That's just going to offend people."

The legal case largely boils down to an argument over "specific performance" terms of the lease concerning whether the team would have to actually play games at KeyArena in order to satisfy its responsibility.

The city sued the Sonics owners in an attempt to bind the team to KeyArena through the lease expiration date of Sept. 30, 2010. The Sonics would like to pay off the final two years of rent on the agreement and be free to move as soon as possible.

The NBA relocation committee consists of seven team representatives who will present a recommendation to all 30 owners at their April meeting. The owners then have up to 30 days to vote, with a simple majority of 16 required to allow a move.

The possibility remains open for a settlement before the court date, but Carr doesn't see that happening unless the Sonics change their stance.

"We'd be happy to mediate the case," Carr said. "The problem is the Sonics want to limit mediation to the amount of money they'd pay (on the remaining lease). Unless it includes the option of staying at KeyArena, what is the point of mediating from our side? We're always happy to discuss settlement, but not if they want us to concede our major issue in the lawsuit."